Pennsylvania
In July 2006, the Pennsylvania legislature voted against adding an anti-marriage amendment to the state constitution. State advocacy groups continue to work towards ending the exclusion of same-sex couples and their families from marriage.
WHERE YOU CAN GO TO GET INVOLVED OR LEARN MORE:
Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Alliance
PA-GALA is the Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Alliance for political action. We provide voters with information on political issues that regard or influence the gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender community.
Equality Advicates Pennsylvania (formerly The Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil RIghts)
Equality Advocates' mission is to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in Pennsylvania through direct legal services, education and policy reform.
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LEGISLATIVE STATUS IN PENNSYLVANIA:
Your Community—Pennsylvania
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
HRC presents resources, news, and the current marriage and
relationship recognition laws in each state.
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PUBLICATIONS:
Pennsylvania Census Snapshot
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this report provides demographic and economic information about same-sex couples and same-sex couples raising children in Pennsylvania.
Geographic Trends Among Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. Census and the
American Community Survey
Williams Institute
November 2007
Gary Gates at the Williams Institute released groundbreaking research
on the geographic trends among same-sex couples. The report finds the
biggest increases in Southern and Mountain states and states barring
legal acceptance of same-sex couples had larger percentage increases
in same-sex couples from 2000 to 2006.
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NEWS:
PA: Editorial--"New Senate measure against marriage is a waste of Harrisburg's time"
The Allentown Morning Call editorializes against a proposed anti-marriage constitutional amendment.
Anti-marriage constitutional amendment advances in PA
After nearly two years, the anti-marriage debate is back on the front burner in the state Capitol. By a 10-4 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday advanced a bill to write marriage and relationship recognition discrimination into the constitution. The bill now goes to the Appropriations Committee before consideration by the full Senate. It would have to be passed by the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions and then approved by voters in a referendum.
Gays & the Church
As a gay man who has been partnered for 19 years, married in Canada in 2005 and parent of a 2-year-old, I can tell you that we are not attacking Catholics or marriage. We don't want anything more than what all other committed couples have: the tax, health, pension, visitation and death protections that are a part of marriage. These are not special rights. They are protections offered by the government, not the Catholic Church.
Native returns to PA for marriage equality event
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 18, 2007
More states are taking steps toward marriage equality for same-sex couples, and even states with civil unions are coming to the realization that civil unions aren't enough. That's the word from Pittsburgh native son and national marriage equality advocate Evan Wolfson, who tomorrow (April 19) is slated to discuss the state of same-sex marriages in the United States at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave, East Liberty.
Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson headlines National Black Church summit
Religion News
February 1, 2007
Freedom to Marry Voice of Equality Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson will speak at a summit at which over three hundred people from across the nation will gather to discuss how to create a welcoming and gay-affirming church.
OPINION: Lesbian and gay marriages can reflect God's covenant with creation
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
October 4, 2006
"It's love that makes a family. I witnessed the power of this love firsthand as a child when my uncle and his partner would visit from California. It wasn't until the 1990s that I learned my uncle had twice been sent to a sanitarium in his youth to be 'cured' of his homosexuality. When my uncle became bedridden for nearly a decade in his 80s after a series of strokes, his partner was at his bedside caring for him every day. The bond of their commitment is what marriage embodies and honors."
OPINION: Remember when inter-racial marriage was all the politicians' rage?
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
June 19, 2006
"In time, I'm sure state governments will have to accept that millions of gay couples are already marrying in everything but the courts."
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Williams Institute
December 2007
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this report provides demographic and economic information about same-sex couples and same-sex couples raising children in Pennsylvania.
Read families’ stories about how marriage discrimination affects everyday life. These stories communicate, in concrete ways, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage hurts families and helps no one.
Start in The Marriage Basics to get short answers to your big questions about the freedom to marry, and learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage, the historical background for this civil rights movement, why separate is not equal, and so much more.
